So, here I am again. The blank page. Every time I come to this challenge, I feel an overwhelming despair. I'm starting over again. I wonder what the point is in doing all this. Over 100000 words, 50 chapters, and where has it left me? Sure, I've gotten better at writing, but does that make this all worth it? Not really. If that were the only thing I got out of this, I'd quit. I'd let this whole thing go and move on to other projects.
But that's not the only thing I get out of it. It's you all, the readers, always so supportive of my work, even when I fall on my face and have to rewrite an entire chapter, who drive me to continue this project. My point is… thank you. It means so much to me that you take the time to appreciate what I'm doing. Thank you all for reading.
All right, enough of that sentimental crap; let's get to the chapter!
Twilight wiped the sweat off her forehead as she exited the castle into the colder-temperatured atmosphere outside. No sense in letting herself get sick because she didn't take into account the freezing effect of the sweat on her forehead. She didn't want to give herself a head cold before even taking the train way up north.
When she got back, her friends had engaged themselves in minor activities. Applejack was taking notes out of a book that seemed to be titled the Broble (which Spike was looking through and muttering something like: "I've gotta find out whether it's ethical to eat grilled Mormons so I can beat Takeshi's Challenge!"), Rarity was once again drawing in her sketchbook for fashion designs, this time she seemed to be sketching the bricks of the castle walls. Pinkie and Fluttershy were etching a game of tic-tac-toe on the slightly muddy ground with sticks, as Twilight had once done with the pink earth pony back when the dragon had threatened to cover Ponyville with smoke, and Rainbow and Cobalt seemed to be playing a game of high-speed tag through the city.
Spike glanced up from the Broble when she came out. "Hey Twilight! How'd the test go?" He held up a claw. "Wait, why ask? I already know. You aced it, right?"
Twilight sighed and shook her head.
Spike frowned. "A minus? That's still good."
That statement attracted the attention of all four of her friends that weren't currently out of the sonic range of hearing Spike's voice. Twilight almost never got below an A plus, much less a plain A. They were currently all ready to comfort her with the reassurance that an A minus was still really good when confronted with one of the usually complicated exams that Princess Celestia usually gave.
Twilight's lack of response made them worry more instead.
"B plus?" Spike continued downward on the grading scale, not even remembering in his confusion at how this low of a grade was possible that an A minus and B plus were essentially the same thing. "C? D?"
Neither of these queries got a response.
"No way. Please don't tell me… you failed it?" Spike looked at her disbelievingly.
Twilight took a deep breath, figuring she'd better end this before it got too far. If she knew Spike and her friends, the theories about bad things that might have happened could go to near infinity, especially with Pinkie there. "The test is still going on."
Pinkie narrowed her eyes and looked at Twilight with almost comical scrutiny. "Don't lie to us Twilight. I don't see a portal gun anywhere."
"Yeah, Twi," Applejack nodded in agreement. "Lyin' goes against the Broble."
Twilight shook her head, too nervous about her own problems to worry about what was written in that fancy book, or even about these so called 'portal guns'. "It's not that kind of test. I thought I was prepared for any kind of test, but I wasn't prepared for this."
Fluttershy looked around in confusion as music started to play from nowhere. This music stopped, however, as Cobalt skidded backward on the ground before them, reappearing into a physical form out of the blur that had been flitting around the city before, and let Rainbow crash into him, both pegasi having been going in the same trajectory. They rolled over each other backward for a moment, but when they righted themselves, Cobalt was tickling Rainbow.
"Can't tag me now!" Cobalt said with a grin.
"Thahahat's not in the rules!" Rainbow choked out, laughing so hard she could barely choke out a simple sentence.
They froze when they saw the odd looks they were being given, though.
"Not a good time?" Cobalt asked, and when they were met with unanimous 'no's and head shakings, they awkwardly stood up and dusted themselves off.
"So what is the test anyway?" Applejack resumed the previous train of conversation.
"Not the kind on paper. And not one I can get a grade on either." Twilight wondered how to best explain it as she stalled with little details that didn't actually say that much about what this 'test' was. "Er, it's more like I either pass or fail… or perhaps it's better said 'succeed' or fail."
"You're not giving us much to go on, here, Twilight," Rarity pointed out. "Does she expect you to make a touchdown in hoofball?"
"Yeah, hoofball!" Spike cheered, glancing at his crush. "I love it!"
"Well I don't." Rarity grimaced at the very thought of the sport. "All that ghastly violence simply to entertain ponies!"
"I agree," Fluttershy said quietly, though nopony seemed to hear her.
"Well…" Spike desperately reached for some way to cover up what he'd just said. "Yeah, I guess it's not that great."
"Smooth…" Rainbow muttered, grinning slightly and rolling her eyes.
"I love hoofball too, Spike!" Pinkie exclaimed, seeming to have warped so that she could spring up behind the dragon and give him a hug from behind. "We could be best friends because of that!"
Cobalt coughed quietly. "That spot's taken, Pinkie." He looked back over at Twilight. "Now, I think we've given you enough time to think. What's this test exactly?"
Twilight nodded to him appreciatively for noticing how what was going on was affecting what she was thinking. "From what I understand, I'm supposed to go to the Crystal Empire and find the source of its power: they Crystal Heart."
"And we're supposed to go with you?" Fluttershy asked.
"The Princess didn't say anything about that," Twilight said thoughtfully. "But I guess–"
"We're going anyway," Cobalt finished her thought for her, not giving her much of an opportunity to deny her friends the opportunity of going to help her. Twilight was once again grateful for his calm, matter-of-fact determination, because he was saying the things she would've stumbled over. She briefly wondered how that sort of conviction had arisen out of the paranoid, shattered pony he'd become. Perhaps he'd recognized those faults in himself and was trying to fix them on his own. "You all go on ahead to the train," the dark pegasus continued, starting to seem as if he was hiding something. "I… saw something while flying and want to check it out."
"And why can't we come with ya?" Applejack asked, bringing all attention to Cobalt, which he seemed to feel uncomfortable with.
"For one, if I really didn't want you to follow me, none of you could catch me," he reasoned. When he saw the shocked look Rainbow gave him, he countered it with a no-nonsense reply, "Even you, Dash." He blinked and continued, "And second, it's not really important at all. There's actually no point in you following me."
Twilight didn't like the way he called it 'following him'. It wasn't like they were going to tail him as if they were some sort of gang of detectives that went around solving mysteries in a psychedelically colored van with their pet great dane and always got called meddling kids whenever they solved a mystery… what exactly was she thinking about again?
Cobalt shook his head. "You all go on and take the train without me. I can find the Empire on my own. It shouldn't be too hard–I mean, it is an entire empire."
Spike cleared his throat, looking smug and holding a claw behind his back. The noise attracted the ponies' attention. "While you girls–and guy–were talking, I sent a quick letter to the train company, and managed to get us six tickets on the train to as far north as they go. Check it out!" He revealed what he was holding in his claw, holding up six blue train tickets.
"Rectangles!" Pinkie cheered, beginning to bounce in place like she was on a trampoline. "Let's go!"
As the group began to leave, Rainbow put her forelegs around Cobalt's shoulders, her worried eyes staring into his. "Be careful flying there. It's really cold up north."
Cobalt smiled and rolled his eyes. "Since when am I not careful?"
Rainbow smiled and hugged him tightly. "Don't make me answer that."
He returned the hug. "I'll be careful. But seriously," he said, releasing her. "You've got to get going to catch that train."
She nodded. "See you in a few hours."
As she turned and began to trot off after the rest of the group, Cobalt called after her, "I bet I'll beat you there!"
"As if!" came the reply from already several tens of yards away.
Cobalt watched until Rainbow had vanished out of his line of sight, and then looked around to make sure that there was nopony following him. If he'd seen what he thought he'd seen… it wasn't a good idea to have somepony tailing him.
Once he had made sure everypony near him was minding their own business, he took off at a brisk trot down into the city's streets, but then took a sharp left turn down an alley, progressing down that until he was met with where he remembered seeing something unusual.
Nothing appeared to be happening for a moment, but then he heard voices rapidly approaching from a ninety-degree turn a little ways in front of him. He dove inside a nearby trash can, thankful that it was currently empty, and ducked down just enough that he could still hear what was going on outside of it, but wasn't visible to whomever owned those voices.
"I'm telling you, that idiot won't do it, knowing that he'll die!" The first voice was harsh and cold. Cobalt placed in his mind as being similar to Shadow's, but quickly dismissed that idea, since the black and red alicorn was currently an outlaw in most major cities of Equestria. He'd be an idiot to show up in any city, especially Canterlot, the home of the royal sisters themselves. This had to be some other pony.
"You underestimate your friend's loyalty to this world." The next voice, in quite a contrast to the other one, was mysterious and creaky, like the speaker was old. It almost sounded like a male version of Granny Smith, except minus the accent.
"For the last time, he is not my friend." The first voice sounded angry, like the other was pushing it over the edge. "Besides, I know him, Emani. No matter how 'loyal' he is to this world, he'll turn coward and run when it comes to sparing his own life."
"Oh, I suppose we'll see whichever of us is right when the time comes," the second voice, Emani, gave a wheezy laugh. "But you do remember your task when the time does come?"
The first voice sighed. "Yes. I do. When he dies, I do everything possible to revive him."
"Very good, boy." The hooves carrying the second voice trotted past the trash can that Cobalt was hiding in, forcing him to duck down deeper into the metal bucket in order not to be seen, and miss any speech that occurred while he was in there. When he looked over the top of the metal, the two voices, and whoever had been their owners, had disappeared.
What had that just been? An old stallion named Emani telling a younger one that yet another stallion would most certainly die to save the world, even though the younger one seemed convicted that he would not, and then reminding the younger one that his task was to revive the stallion who saved the world when he died? It didn't make any sense, especially when Cobalt had no idea who the two speakers, and the other one they were speaking of, were.
He didn't like the idea of somepony dying to save the world. What if it was somepony he knew? Perhaps it was even the Doctor. It wouldn't be a good thing either way. Even though the world would be saved…
He shook his head, trying to clear it of those thoughts. He hadn't decided to hide in this trash can just to worry. The only reason he was here was to find out what the two that he hadn't managed to catch the faces of were acting so suspicious about.
Leaping out of the metal can, he began at a swift trot down the way the two had come, but his attention was called back when he heard a bag of garbage drop on the ground as if let go from the grasp of a levitation spell and a female voice say, "Cobalt Spikes? What are you doing in my garbage can?"
Cobalt glanced back, frowning at who he saw there. "Minuette? What are you doing in Canterlot?"
The young blue mare brushed her dark blue and white mane out of her face. "I live here."
Cobalt shook his head. "But I see you in Ponyville all the time."
"Just because I live here doesn't mean that I can't be in Ponyville most of the time." Minuette seemed to be a bit uncomfortable explaining her personal life with the dark pegasus. "I suppose the same applies for you with Ponyville and my trash can?"
He rolled his eyes. "Clever. Do you…" he noticed that the discomfort Minuette was showing were continuing after she'd finished explaining about her personal life. "Do you have something you want to ask me?"
Minuette's face flushed. "I… well, I suppose if you're asking… uh… do you happen to be… seeing anypony right now? Romantically, I mean," she added quickly afterward. "I mean, I know you're physically seeing me right now, of course, heh…" she laughed nervously.
Cobalt smiled, flattered by her nervousness. "Yes, I am. I'm really sorry about it, but I am."
The blue unicorn sighed. "Yeah, it's fine. I suppose I should've expected that, you know." She shrugged and put on a smile. "Well, it was good seeing you. Tell Twilight 'hi' for me if you get the chance!"
"I will," Cobalt promised. He then sneezed violently and followed it up with a bout of coughing. "Ugh…"
Minuette frowned. "That sounds pretty bad. You should probably get that looked at; you might have a cold."
Cobalt sniffed. "Ah, I'm good. I never get sick. It's the one thing that I'm… actually sure of anymore." He sighed, and there was a moment of uncomfortable silence, before he realized that he'd dropped the conversation, and so he could be the one to pick it up so it could actually be ended. "Well, I'd better be going."
"Oh yeah, where are you going, anyway?" Minuette asked, levitating the bag of garbage back into the air and setting it down into the can.
"Up north to the Crystal Empire."
She frowned. "Never heard of it."
He grinned. "Neither have I. Anyway, I'll tell Twilight you said 'hello'. Catch you later!" He took off in a dark streak, leaving a gust of wind in his wake.
Minuette rolled her eyes, muttering, "He hasn't changed a bit." She bit her lip and grinned, blushing slightly. "Still, if he's ever available…" she giggled to herself at the thought, and trotted back inside her apartment.
WITH COBALT
As Cobalt shot through the skies, he sneezed again. But no… he couldn't possibly be sick. That wasn't even on the table. He'd never gotten sick before, and he wasn't sick now. If there was one thing he was sure of in his past, it was that he'd been completely healthy up until now. He couldn't possibly break that streak today.
The cold weather would say otherwise.
There we go. I think this'll actually be five parts, which is a record for me. Perhaps it won't be a record for length, but it'll probably be a record for most parts in a single episode. Oh well. I'm still doing other writing projects for the site anyway. Sorry I'm a bit slow about uploads lately.
Radicool223 out!
